HBB4ALL: access services for a smart convergent environment - Carlos Alberto Martín, José Manuel Menéndez and Guillermo Cisneros Universidad ...

HBB4ALL: access services for a smart convergent
                 environment
  Carlos Alberto Martín, José Manuel Menéndez and Guillermo Cisneros Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain)
                                                                                              NEM Summit 2016
                                                                                     Porto, 24th November 2016

HBB4ALL project

 HBB4ALL is a European project co-funded by the CIP
  programme (Competitiveness and Innovation Framework
  Programme)

 Aim: deployment of access service pilots based on HbbTV, the
  standardised Connected TV technology

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The consortium

2 Academic
Institutions

4 Public
Broadcasters

2 Research
Institutes

4 SMEs

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Connected TV

 Connected TV or Hybrid TV: current paradigm of smart media
  convergence, characterised by hybrid terminals able to receive
  and to play multimedia contents coming from:
      A "traditional" broadcasting network (e.g., DTT)
      A broadband network (Internet)
 Great opportunity to deploy new contents and services for all
  the users!!!
      Including personalised content                        Hybrid terminal

                                             Broadcast           Broadband

                                                                    Internet

                                                             Additional
                                              Broadcasters    contents
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Connected TV

 ... and the people with disabilities? Can they take advantage of
  these opportunities?
 HBB4ALL - Hybrid Broadcast Broadband For ALL
 Two challenges:
      The challenge of making broadband content accessible (if a piece of
       content has included access services in the broadcast emission,
       accessibility must be preserved in broadband exploitation)
      Using HbbTV as a technical tool for the provision of innovative access
       services (e.g., new signing services)
 HbbTV is an open, standardised technology to provide
  interoperable Connected TV services
 HbbTV is the key technology in HBB4ALL, but not the only one.
 Near-market project: pilot deployment
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HBB4ALL pilots

 The project has consisted of four pilots focused on different
  access services:
      Pilot A. Multiplatform subtitle services
      Pilot B. Alternative audio production and distribution
      Pilot C. Automatic user interface adaptation and accessible Connected
       TV applications
      Pilot D. Sign language interpretation

 Each pilot comprises several "subpilots" (service pilot
  deployed by a broadcaster)

 The project ends in a few days (30th Nov 2016) after three
  years of execution

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Subtitles

 RBB, CCMA and Swiss TXT have deployed HbbTV subtitling
  applications for catch-up contents.
 Customisation options, such as subtitle position and size

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Subtitles

 UPM and RTP have worked on the provision of subtitles in web
  players (JW Player, VideoJS) -> used in a variety of devices via web
  browsers.
 This tool has integrated customisation options, too.
 Available for a set of programmes in the accessibility area of RTP
  website.

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Subtitles

 The mentioned subtitling services are based on EBU-TT-D, the
  EBU open specification for subtitle distribution via Internet.
 IRT has developed several tools to promote usage of this new
  subtitle format in the market.
 Vicomtech-IK4 has worked on the generation of live (almost real-
  time) subtitles using speech to text technologies and automatic
  translation from English into Spanish.

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Alternative audio services

 CCMA has integrated audio description and original sound track in
  its HbbTV portal. Additional tests to deliver the content via MPEG-
  DASH.
 IRT has created a clean audio generator software to increase
  speech intelligibility. Promising results.
 UAB has worked on the improvement of audio description
  intelligibility if programme volume increases.

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Accessible user interfaces

 Vsonix and UAB have created a MOOC (massive open online
  course) about accessibility
 And of course it is accessible
 Available in Internet after registration:
  http://www.accessguide.tv/course/

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Sign language

 RBB has deployed an HbbTV signing application for catch-up
  content.
 Tested with a sample of 30 users.
 Closed (elective) implementation and customisation options: size,
  position and layout. A pre-mixed picture-in-picture video
  (programme + signing window) is delivered via Internet.
 A truly hybrid approach would require double-decoder receivers
  (not usual in the competitive consumer electronics industry).

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Sign language

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Sign language

 UPM and RTP have created a customisable signing service for web
  players:
     JW Player. Picture in picture. Different positions and sizes
     VideoJS. Two screens. Four different options
 This implementation has extended the current double-screen
  signing service provided by RTP for live content.
 Tested in a focus group.

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Sign language

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Sign language

 Avatar or virtual interpreter to
  create automatic signing
  (Vicomtech-IK4)
 This service has not been deployed
  in a large-scale pilot but tested with
  users
 Involving modules like text to sign
  language translation, a sign
  dictionary and an animation engine
 Limited to a specific semantic domain (weather forecast) but
  extensible to cover other fields (with the suitable sign dictionary)

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User tests

 Key aspect in HBB4ALL
 Which are the optimum conditions for the service provision?
 Two different user test typologies
      During the large-scale subpilots
      In lab conditions (UAB)
 In the case of signing tests, innovative sign languages
  questionnaires (UAB and UPM).

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Conclussions

 The current smart convergence ecosystem enables the
  cooperation between different networks: broadcast and
  Internet.
 HbbTV is a valid tool for the provision of accessibility in the
  convergent environment.
 TV accessibility has always taken advantage of new TV services
  and technologies: teletext subtitles, multiple audio tracks,
  Connected TV...

 And this is just a quick introduction to our project! Most of
  HBB4ALL deliverables are public: www.hbb4all.eu

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Thank for your attention!!!

       Carlos Alberto Martín, José Manuel Menéndez, Guillermo Cisneros
                   Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain)
       cam@gatv.ssr.upm.es, jmm@gatv.ssr.upm.es, gcp@gatv.ssr.upm.es

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